Burberry shares rise as brokers forecast resilient results
LONDON, June 25 (Reuters) - Burberry (BRBY.L), opens new tab shares rose on Wednesday as brokerages turned relatively upbeat on the British luxury brand before its first quarter trading statement on July 18.
Jefferies and HSBC both raised their target prices for the company's shares before the results.
"Q1 sales should confirm the brand's newfound (relative) resilience," Jefferies equity analyst James Grzinic said in a note.
Barclays said it expects retail comp sales to be down 4% in the first quarter of the 2026 financial year, improving slightly versus the fourth quarter of 2025, driven by "easier comps and gradual brand heat improvement."
By 1030 GMT, Burberry shares were up 5.7% at 10.71 pounds. Shares are up 9.6% this year, compared to a 5.5% fall for the STOXX Europe Luxury 10 (.STXLUXP), opens new tab.
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Shell ‘in talks to acquire BP'
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The Guardian
an hour ago
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HS2 should be stopped in its tracks
Nils Pratley's summary of governmental incompetence regarding HS2 is stark (HS2: a complete failure by the British state and its politicians, 18 June). However, it is the lack of application of a basic procurement principle that is the underlying cause of the HS2 debacle. On a major project like HS2, the first question a procurement professional should ask is: 'What is the business need?' The time spent establishing a clear need, signed off by all stakeholders, is time well spent. My experience is that quality procurement expertise is not sought before the project specification is defined and this question is fudged. Why scupper a glamorous ill-defined (and therefore inevitably costly) project for a dull and precisely defined one? I would suggest that the actual business need was not to build a high-speed connection to the Midlands and north, but to increase passenger capacity, for which there were many solutions. However, matching the TGV (France's intercity high-speed rail service) was not one of them, but it became adopted as such in the minds of the proponents of the project and the politicians. That being the case, the project signed off by the politicians was entirely inappropriate. Bruce White Cambridge HS2 has the flaw that it has always had since conception (The Guardian view on HS2 delays: a chance to break the cycle of costly failure, 18 June). The time gained from high speed over a short run is minimal. This is not Madrid to Barcelona (approximately 320 miles). The argument that it will relieve capacity on existing lines is false – it does not stop anywhere along the way. People must travel into London or Birmingham to get on, wasting time and money as well as loading the existing lines. People will prefer the overall quicker route from where they live, rather than schlepping into the city. It doesn't even serve the two international airports that it conceivably could have reached. Think of the transport projects that could have been if those billions had not been poured away on political vanity. For example, I live in Cornwall. Our connection to the National Rail network is a single-track bridge that was opened in 1859 and a line that clings to the edge of the land except when it gets washed away. A fraction of those billions could be well spent down here. Instead, Old Oak Common degrades the GWR line into Paddington that serves not only us, but a huge commuting contingent from Berkshire, Wiltshire etc. Just stop throwing good money after bad and give it up. Alan Peabody Feock, Cornwall The HS2 project is a national disgrace. Spiralling costs, massive environmental destruction, loss of homes, and for what? Reducing the journey from London to Birmingham by a few minutes, with no doubt expensive tickets as well. This vanity project, started by the Conservatives, does not appear to have any justification, and nobody is taken to task for its current failures; nor do we know who is profiting from it, whether consultants or managers. The cost to the taxpayers is unacceptable, especially given the need for better and cheaper rail services in so many other areas. There should be a public inquiry into this. And yet this government is apparently going to continue pouring money into it, at a time when Rachel Reeves claims that there is a lack of resources to fund pressing matters in other areas, policing, the arts and social services. No other European country would have botched such a project, nor indeed considered it. Tanya Firth London Have an opinion on anything you've read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
Sky News
an hour ago
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Something unexpected is happening in British pubs. Buy a pint in Our Gracie's, Rochdale, and that's just what you'll get - no live band, no televised football match, no food - except, perhaps, a pork pie. Sandwiched between a Wetherspoon's and a Hogarths, the independent, wet-led boozer is exactly the kind of pub many landlords and industry experts said would not survive a "death by a thousand cuts" being wrought upon the industry when they spoke to Sky News a year ago. But figures suggest Our Gracie's, which opened in December 2023 for just three days a week and now operates on all seven, may be a sign of the industry staging something of a comeback. Fewer, better pubs "Pubs always adapt. They always manage to work out a way to survive," says Katie Gallagher, hospitality expert at consumer data firm Lumina Intelligence. "What you've seen is less pubs, but not necessarily less market value, because the pubs that are left are notably better." 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We're seeing a massive increase in people not drinking in our pubs - the sale of low and no alcohol is huge." In a sign his approach is working, Cornish Inns has opened its sixth venue in its sixth year, the Bloody Bones cocktail bar. "We're aware that it's a strange time to be opening a business when everyone else is struggling." The next hurdle And he's right. Despite the positivity felt in parts of the industry, April brought with it a raft of additional business costs. The minimum wage rose 6.7% for staff aged 21 and over (£1,386 annually for a 40-hour work week) and 16.3% for employees aged 18 to 20 (£2,500 annually). Discounts on business rates for hospitality were reduced from 75% to 40% (capped at £110,000). Employers' National Insurance contributions rose from 13.8% to 15%, and businesses started paying it sooner. They're now taxed per employee once staff are earning more than £5,000 a year, down from £9,100, which particularly affects industries with part-time workers. "When you've only got a small margin and the new costs go up, it can be extremely painful. And I think that is the crux of the issue that the pub business as a whole has," says The Devonshire's landlord, Rogers. A government spokesperson said it is supporting pubs with the 40% business rates relief for 250,000 businesses, a 1p alcohol duty cut on draught pints, capping corporation tax and protecting the smallest businesses from the employer National Insurance rise. They pointed out that the NI increase is helping to fund the NHS. The government will introduce a "new, permanent lower [business] rate for retail, hospitality and leisure" in April next year, they added. But Ash Corbett-Collins, chairman of the Campaign for Real Ale, said that "much-loved community locals will have to close their doors" if the government doesn't reduce business rates, VAT on pub food and drink, or duty on pub beers and ciders. "None of this is helped by the increase in National Insurance contributions, and we are being very clear with consumers - price hikes at the bar are the fault of the government's decisions, not the licensees." Defying expectations Yet mitigating these costs is an area where independent, wet-led boozers may defy expectations once again, like the Old Bakehouse in Welshpool. Landlords Paul Morris, 67, and his wife Janice, 55, say they are shielded from the hikes more than others due to their small size. They bought and renovated the derelict bakehouse and run the micropub themselves, turning over £120,000 while only paying wages for the odd shift taken by friends and family. By contrast, pub companies face larger wage bills and higher rent and energy costs for bigger spaces. "We have judged success on the fact that we're still open and still enjoying it, and making a living," said Paul.
